I wanted to bring to
your attention -- and recommend to your readers -- a book that I've
"loved" as a film buff ever since I bought my first copy back in
1970. It's The New York Times' "GUIDE TO MOVIES ON TV," edited by Howard
Thompson. It's an eleven by eight and a half
inch soft-bound book with 223 pages of some 2000 capsule reviews
taken from the pages of the Times. Though not in the same league as
the Leonard Maltin books or even other well-known film guides, this book was
unique in that it included a black and white still from each film next to the
review. The Times only published this guide once (in 1970), which is a
shame, but used copies can still be found at Amazon and other internet
sources. The films covered date from the late 1930's to the end of 1968.
I've scanned the cover
and some sample reviews. The book is often fascinating in that many
movies considered a classics now were not that highly regarded back
then. A good example is the review of "The Good, the Bad, and
the Ugly."- Rory Monteith
Retro Responds: All movie geeks must think alike. I agree this was one of my most beloved books about film criticism and a dog-eared edition of the book adorns my bookshelf. You're right- many films considered classics today were scorned by the Times when they were originally released. I would advise any retro movie lover to hunt this book down and add it to their research library. - Lee Pfeiffer
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